Why suppliers and brands enjoy working with Rapid

Smart Manufacturing Week 2026 gave us the chance to catch up with some of the manufacturers behind our ranges and to hear, in their own words, what it's like to work alongside us.

Three of them sat down with us on camera: FLIR, Brainboxes and CRC Industries. Between them they cover thermal imaging, industrial networking and specialist chemicals - very different products, sold into very different corners of industry. What they told us, though, kept landing on the same few themes.

Here's what we heard.

FLIR: the right contacts and the right engineers

Thermal imaging and test — cameras and instruments that show engineers what the naked eye can't.

“Rapid have the right contacts and hands-on, knowledgeable engineers - they know where our products fit and open the right doors.”

David Mills, Sales Manager Major Accounts EMEA

Brainboxes: staying focused on the right solution

Industrial networking and I/O — the connectivity that keeps a factory talking to itself.

“As an SME, Rapid really understand going above and beyond — getting into the long grass with customers and staying focused on the solution.”

Ed Roberts, EMEA Key Account Manager

CRC Industries: specialist expertise, brought in at the right moment

Specialist maintenance chemicals — cleaners, lubricants and contact treatments used across industry.

“Rapid have the customer relationships, and they bring us in to add specialist expertise exactly when it's needed.”

Megan Herrera Edgar, Sales Development Manager

The common thread

Three brands, three very different product lines and yet the same picture emerges each time. It comes down to relationships, technical know-how and trust.

The relationships are ours to look after. We're the ones talking to customers day in, day out, so we understand where a project is really up to and what it needs next. When that turns out to be a supplier's specialist knowledge - the way CRC describes it - we bring them in at the point where they add the most value, rather than leaving customers to work it out alone.

The technical know-how sits with our engineers. As FLIR put it, they're hands-on and know the applications, so they can place a product where it genuinely fits and open the right doors. That's the difference between passing a datasheet along and actually solving the problem in front of the customer.

And the trust is what ties it together. Brainboxes summed it up best: we get into the weeds and stay focused on the right solution. Our suppliers know that when we put their name in front of a customer, it's because it's the right answer - and that's a relationship worth having on both sides.